a day in the life of a curly girly

TGIF

2012-02-10T09:53:00.001-05:00

I love flowers.

They speak so many different languages, they say so much without ever saying a word. These got to sit on my desk before they were delivered, I enjoyed every minute, they were so fragrant - absolutely gorgeous.

We chipped in at work to get flowers for a coworker who returned to work after losing her husband. She sent us the sweetest thank you, only cost us $4 (less than lunch) to show some luv. (I hope the Hubbs is reading this, wink wink).

Lil Oyin happy mail this week. Their customer service is ROCKING these days, delivered in less than a week. They really do get scents right, and I get to support handmade, bonus.

Painting, in process...

Dug out some Valentines day luv for the house.

Absolutely no plans this weekend. No parties, no kid taxing, no family engagements, no Target runs, notta. Excited to finish some open projects, maybe a movie with my Dude, get Kya’s valentines all done and maybe bake something, maybe....no promises, no obligations. I just wanna enjoy it.

Oh, I really wanna get a photo of the boys, you have to see their hair!! Both have twa's - I thought it was a bet to see who would cave first? But they are just not cutting and not talking about why, I'm starting to digg the look, it took a minute for me to like it, cause they don't groom it AT ALL, but it's grown on me.

Have a great weekend. Got plans?

Tom's, again!

2012-02-09T11:22:00.001-05:00

Today I quick login to check home email and there on the sidebar, Toms done done it, again.

They are coming out of the granola look and definitely aiming for females $$$

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I already had the wedges in my Spring budget, (think with skirts, lots and lots of skirts) I'm even gonna try to sew ~~some~~ one for myself. Now they are offering ballet flats, in leopard, shut.the.front.door! U really like the textured look.

I’m a solids girl, I can only do prints in accessories, but leopard, hello! Couture. Or Cougar, depends on my mood, but mostly I love it. Check them out, $79 not too price friendly (for flats) so I have to remember it’s buy one, give one, that’s the Tom’s motto.

Right now I'm only planning on purchasing one pair of Tom’s…but a girl can look, cause it’s never too early to start thinking about Spring!

Blessed

2012-02-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

It’s become my morning anthem.

When I start itunes, I start on this song as a daily reminder...then I go to shuffle..

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Just helps to keep everything in perspective.

What's good for hump day? Last night I was in bed by 9...hoping I can hang tonight and finish some open projects, something, anything.

My BFF from HS called me an old fuddy duddy yesterday, I'm not even 40 yet! And oddly enough, I cracked up, wasn't insulted at all, I'm not sure which is worse.

That's it for today, Old Fuddy Duddy Out.

Superbowl, RedHot, Cliques and Dubs

2012-02-06T10:20:00.001-05:00

Haik's mom gave the boys tickets to the Philadelphia Auto Show. So we drove down for the day. There were two floors, one for cars and one for DUB (?), this photo is from the DUB floor. Car enthusiast heaven.

Khari (my youngest son): Mom, I took so many pictures, I was like...........you.

wahahaaaaa!!

They really loved it, I mean loved it. It did absolutely nothing for me, nothing. I sat in one car, at Kya's request. Cars are not my deal, I would have had a better time at Target, sad but true. But I'm glad we went, (even though I was secretly hoping they wouldn't finish their chores on time so I could save my gas) now I want to take them to the one in NY, they liked it that much.

Then on Sunday we were booked. First, Kya had a birthday party, where she was very cliquey with 2 other girls, this goes down in preschool for girls?

"My mom said I can come sit with her"
"Weeeee're getting vanilla cake"
"I have that, but miiiiiine is pink"
"Can I have a goodie bag" --- then there was no "thank you"

All very whiney and obnoxious. UGHnnoying. I don't know what to do.

The boys were never like this, I'm at a loss for words on it. It really really bugged me. Thing is she understands really well when you talk to her, but I couldn't find right words. I did explain this morning that I'd like her to try and play with other kids because in a group of 3 somebody always starts to feel left out, but I don't know if she "got" it. I don't want a cliquey preschooler, any suggestions?

And finally, last night we went to a Superbowl party. My dish was Buffalo Dip (it's a party pleaser, but use fresh chicken not the can kind).

I usually take it in a crock pot, couldn't find mine (hello kind neighbors who came through in a clutch!!). AND my market was out of Frank's Red Hot and Tostitos, really Wegmans, REALLY? But alls well that ends well, we were late but we had a good time.

Ok, gotta go now, I have to email my family and ask if anyone has my 12 year old crockpot....

How rude, How was your weekend? Any Giants fans out there (eyes roll)...Congrats, I guess :)

Pottery Barn Teen Hack

2012-02-03T10:14:00.001-05:00

The other night I was looking through the Pottery Barn Teen magazine. I saw this lamp and thought, hmmm.

I knew we had some white fabric I could use and sure enough there were scraps from some Ikea curtains (a ribbon would work too).

After a few cuts, snip, snip, snip, a quick run through the sewing machine for ruffling and I was upstairs with the glue gun, ready for action.

It’s also good way to cover up a dinged up shade, that was an added bonus.

Lights on.

Lights Off

Instead of a light bulb I went with a string of lights I scored after the Holiday season. Beginning to end, it was maybe an hour, could have been less time if I figured out the ruffling business on the machine faster.

But a little bit of girly for FREE, gotta love quick projects :)

Now to clean up this corner...

Aaah, my work is never done.

T.G.I.payF.

2012-02-03T09:48:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, Kya played Life (by herself) with a goodie bag from a princess party in hand.

My blood was rejected (3x in a row over one year) from my local blood drive for low iron. boooo. You know it's bad when even sick people don't want your blood. Must.do.better.

And since I refuse to take supplements, (the vitamins mess with your ability to go #2, if you know what I mean) so I'm officially on grown up cereal - so long Frosted Flakes and Honey Nut Cheerios, Hello Great Grains, they are not bad at all, I must say.

I know how to keep your mac n cheese creamy, but my family still doesn't eat mine they way they do the Hubbs. It's a conspiracy!!! (Competitive much)

C'mon, doesn't it look good, I was so proud. But did they devour it, NO! I have to continue to work on my recipe. Any help out there and don't say Velveeta, that's a cheat.

Superbowl on Sunday, yo!

Can't wait, wings, beer, comedy (commercials), fun fun fun

Puppybowl on Sunday, yo!

(only my goofball coworkers would know about this, or am I the goof cause I'm just now hearing of it)

Happy Friday!

A body in motion…

2012-01-28T21:37:00.001-05:00

…tends to stay in motion. I was busy last weekend, gettin it done.

Can you guess which color I chose? If you call gray or white colors.

Kya was busy too.

Keeping herself entertained, check out the B*L*I*N*G, y’all.

She’s so sweet, she rarely ever gets into stuff (I hope I’m not jinxing myself). Sometimes she can play for HOURS by herself, sometimes not even 5 minutes, but I’ll keep her.

Hallway

2012-01-28T21:12:00.001-05:00

Before:

The trash bags weren’t normally there…I was mid clothing/toy purge. Unfortunately, the clutter was, it had set itself in.

This is a bad angle, but that small area of wall is where I had all the baskets lined up, with books and movies. By the time I took this photo, I’d already moved them to the left in front of that door.

We have a LOT of movies & books, it’s bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s.

I’ve always wanted my kidds to have a love for reading…so I bought a LOT of books.

*TIP* Volume isn’t the key.

*TIP* Use the library.

After:

See the indent on the carpet, that’s where the baskets used to live before the table. This table came from the foyer of the house, but it’s just the right fit here in the hall. I shopped the house for the accessories, everything was already here, which made this FREE!

This is where the small table came from.

I am enjoying being free of my stuff. Now there’s a *TIP* for 25 y/o Tiffany…hindsight is 20/20.

Weather was unseasonally warm here today and I loved it.

It’s a sickness

2012-01-28T20:39:00.001-05:00

If anyone falls asleep, I sneak off for the camera.

camera phone, digital camera, doesn’t matter, it’s a challenge for me…to snap you before you wake up and catch me.

SLEEP, you’re on candid camera? Yep, goofball.

Sniffles

2012-01-25T09:42:00.002-05:00

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That looks really good right now, with some crushed red peppers or sriracha to add some spiceyness, mmmmm.

I'm a snotty, sniffly mess. Not much energy but my brain is full of stuff I want to do, could be doing.... but my body is not quite there.

The good news is, it's Girl Scout Cookie time, Thin Mints are a MUST!!!! I wish they still did Chocolate Chip, I might be really showing my age now.

We'll catch up soon, I've got photos and stuff to share.

When we love...

2012-01-20T17:01:00.001-05:00

My favorite quote from pinterest.com this week, might actually be THUS far!

Isn't it true?

Did you ever see that movie that movie, when Jack Nicholson says "You make me wanna be a better man" - I never forgot that line. It was his way of admitting love.

Love does this, yes?
My children made me wanna keep a better home, be a good example, be a better mom.
My husband made me wanna be a better cook, a better friend, a better partner
My daughter made me wanna be more creative, more expressive, use softer, gentler words (potty mouth over here, i'm soooo much better)

Has love changed you, I mean for the better? Good love, enough with Bad Love - let it DIE. L.I.G. Let it Go. My hip sister teaches me these things.

This is our weather forecast :/ SNOW!!! I ran out at lunch and picked up some fabric so I can have something to sew, I'm running outta VCR movies though :/

I ran into a blogger at Joann's fabric, a local blogger in my hicktown, picture that :) I said hello, who doesn't like having a "citing" - bet she blogs about it!

I hope the snow isn't too bad, I really wanna take my boys to see THIS MOVIE - just in time for Black History Month, I'm on it!!!

Got plans? Anything good? Dish.

MLK Day

2012-01-16T23:25:00.001-05:00

MLK

Forever thankful. Forever grateful.

A King in his own right.

Sewing

2012-01-16T14:52:00.000-05:00

It had been too long, it was me, the VCR, romantic comedies and the sewing machine.

Small completed projects.
2 Roman style window curtains, and homemade burp cloths (for a baby shower not for me!)

I missed it, I knew Winter would bring me some creativity.

How was your weekend?

Happy Friday!

2012-01-13T10:04:00.000-05:00

I love Fridays, I live for the weekends J

My first full week of work in about a month. I survived.

I read an interesting series over the past weekend about a No Brainer Wardrobe. I was blog-hopping and got linked to the ebook for $8 but after digging a little further noticed there was a blog that originated the ebook, so I just went on and read the free series.

The tagline was Get Dressed with More Confidence and Less Fuss. It starts here in the month of October and was about 30 posts long. It was short and sweet (with pics), and it just got me thinking about STUFF I own but DON’T wear, the clothes I actually do wear and all the clothes I wish I had more of.

When I was done reading, I didn’t feel like I needed to diet or go shopping or wear what everyone was else was wearing. Can you guess what I did - I immediately purged a few items I didn’t love (why was I holding on to them, I dunno. )

And then this week, I tried to mix things up with what I had, some things worked, some didn’t, some things I am just plain old forcing and hoping will look good.

I found a lot more outfits I liked on pinterest and in general just tried to look for commonality in them.

Here’s what I found:

I love brown

I love skirts

I love jeans (knew this)

I love white shirts

I love tall boots

I like teal

I love handbags

I love gray

I love bling, bracelets and necklaces

I love big ol chunky belts

I love funky flats

I love cardigans

I love dresses

I love scarfs

I’m not a fan of prints or flowers or button ups. Nothing AT all wrong with them, just not me, I’m a solids kinda girl…

I love rings but I just don’t wear ‘em.

I ended up starting an outfit board :)

I did treat myself to a pair of boots (with a coupon & free shipping). I had been pining over this pair since Fall but the price tag was ALL wrong. I tried ebay, I tried google, I tried everything, I tried saving, it was not meant to be. My much more price friendly boots are due to arrive today, I hope I like them in person.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. It’s snowing here – RIGHT NOW :)

Breathing new life in old things.

2012-01-10T22:12:00.001-05:00

These are Kya’s UGGs, she got them last year for her bday and ruined them this Fall (of course she has no idea how). For a good month they have sat on a shelf. I did not want to toss ‘em but could not think of how to repair.

I was thinking about covering the hole, like I’ve seen here and here. But instead I just ended up stitching them closed and embellishing a bit.

I was feeling crafty so I updated her maryjanes too with some felt flowers off a wreath I no longer loved.

These minor upgrades should get us to Spring, (crossing fingers).

Movies…

2012-01-09T21:00:00.001-05:00

There are some movies I can watch OVER and OVER and OVER again. Some scenes where I am glued…

Did you Order the CODE RED?

…even for the 100th time.

Just trying to think of my top 10 movies makes my nerves bad because I’m afraid I will forget one.

But this weekend one of my favs came on – About a Boy, Hugh Grant is really good in romantic comedy. This scene is LOL bliss, but overall the movie has drama, comedy, chemistry, love – what more can you want in a movie?

One of my favorite scenes is where the kid talks about what loves means to him, in teenager terms, you just get it. Well I did.

Love the Brits.

This last one is not a movie, but it just maybe my all time favorite episode of The Office. I was watching it before bed last night and woke up thinking and giggling remembering some scenes.

The cast is priceless in my opinion, tops Friends everyday and twice on Sunday. Yep, I said it.

I like to see actors, you know, ACTING, (enough already with the reality TV). I haven’t seen a MOVIE since Christmas and then Kya got to pick and judging by this post, Momma need a fix.

What is your favorite movie or show, c’mon share?!!! I need some new stuff in my netflix queue.

Painting

2012-01-09T19:46:00.001-05:00

This is the *NEW* color of the laundry room, it’s a really faint, sagey grey. Lame, neutral, my usual :) I just cant stop doing laundry now. NOT!

I added some white to a can of Oops paint I already had and ended up loving it. It’s the perfect splash of color for a Plain Jane like me.

I never even knew people bothered to paint the laundry room? but leave it up to the blogosphere to school ya.

It’s the first room you see coming in the house from the garage.

I hung that wreath on a piece of fabric I got from a local store for $1/yard. Bonus! My original plan ~~was~~ is to make me a scarf with it. One day.

Since it still felt undone, I hung a pillow sham over the window. This window faces the yard and is pretty high up so you can’t see in unless you walk back really far.

Only one room left in the house that is still builder white. Whoohoo!

The PC is working….barely.

Resolution Reminder

2012-01-05T13:59:00.001-05:00

If you were EVEN thinking about being lazy in 2012 - how's this....

Thanks for dropping in.

Resolutions

2012-01-05T13:41:00.002-05:00

2012

New Years Resolutions – Mental, written or don't even bother?

I’ve read before that if you write down your goals you have a better chance of achieving them. I have no idea if it’s true or not, because there are statistics for just about everything, yet nobody ever asks me anything.

I have one BIG ol’ one and about 100 teeny tiny ones. I’m hoping to come back and read them monthly for a swift kick to stay on track.

Drumroll please……#1

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If I can live simply, I think it will help me $ave, pay off my $tinky debt and reduce clutter.

I did a lot better this year on all 3 but alas I still make impulse purchases, I am STILL magnetized by:

SALE SIGNS!

I swear they flash at me in blinking lights.

Do they blink at you too?

But I did sooo much better in 2011. I can't tell you how many times I returned goods before actually buying realizing I didn't need them & I made lots of returns after as well - realizing I could use the money rather than the item. Yay! for getting older and wiser :)

As for the 100 teeny tiny ones…..

cute chicken little image

Give the short answer. Sometimes I’m too wordy.
Be nicer. Unfortunately, I can be nasty, and mostly to those closest to me, ie. my kiddos and the Hubbs :( When I hear myself after the words have already come out of my mouth, I want to crawl under a rock. Who is Mrs. Nasty? Sending that attitude back. I do eat humble pie and apologize later but ‘er um, I can manage my mouth (and attitude) better.
Manage projects. One.area.at.a.time. I love a project, but why must I start 80 and not finish any. UGHnnoying.
Cut the sh*t. My basement is only 3 steps short of a Hoarders episode. Every year I buy buy buy to finish prettying the house. But really I just want it clean. I realize now I have to declutter and then work on the pretty. Got me.
Accessorize! My daughter really likes bling. I mean gaudy, feminine bling. Me, not so much, unless we talking diamonds, HEY! But yep, going there, stepping.out.of.my.little.box and getting blingy wit' it.
Give Back. Consistently. No idea how, but I’m willing to try.
Judging. I need to mind my own dang business. Not everything that pops in my head comes out of my mouth (thank heavens!) I need to manage my thoughts better, even more positive thinking...check out my inspiration on pinterest.
Exercise. I would like to finish one song on Just Dance without needing oxygen. I think I would really like biking, and I own one. BONUS. Must.get.on.it.
Be adventurous, say yes and don’t wimp out just cause something seems hard. Chicken Little, I am not.
Learn to make my favorite foods and save some moolah. I am a regular at my local Chinese restaurant, and all I get is simple stuff like fried rice and shrimp rolls. I learned to make one of my favorite dishes in 2011 and I would really really like to add more. If you like Chinese, try this, it's so good, a lot of prep but easy and so delicious (ignore the gluten free part if that doesn’t pertain to you). I’ve made this dish twice now, it’s my new go to recipe when funding is low. Come over, I would love to make it for you :) and I like it SPICAAAAAY.

What about you? Any must have changes in 2012 for you? think BIG, yo!!!

Thanks for dropping in and Happy New Year!!!! (on New years Eve, I forget the "r" on year, it was either a) I was sleepy, b) one too many cocktails c) silly ipad...d)all of the above...i will never tell)

Happy New Yea!

2012-01-01T00:11:00.001-05:00

I'm home with my family, my iPad and a cocktail.

Blessed beyond measure.

Happy New Year, now let's get it started!!!

Silly laptop

2011-12-31T00:36:00.001-05:00

It's The EVE of New Years Eve! Excited for what is to come? I am!!!

I wanted to do a post today about my trip to Ikea, do you love it or hate it? I love it. I got out spending $40 bucks, patting myself on the back, so many inexpensive goodies there it's hard to stay focused. But I managed, that was a first!

I was inspired on my trip, so many pretties for almost any lifestyle: family, collegiate, minimalist, green, romantic, bold. I like ikea. But I Must purge. I Must declutter. So I can see more pretties, instead of just.... STUFF of which I have ALOT. Story of my life. Lets see how long the inspiration lasts, sigh.

Last Ikea mention that they should be paying me for, If you luv lattes & cappuccinos but hate the price (sideeye Starbucks), Ikea has a milk frother for $2!! It's is my new boo, two double A batteries (from the remote control and I was in business).

In other news, my laptop is not responsive, I ordered a battery from
Amazon, hopefully its the last $40 bucks I have to invest in the ol' HP before I can buy a MACBOOK :)

Before I go just want to send all the best wishes for a safe, healthy and prosperous new year to you and your family.

All the best.
Tiffany

Home Grown

2011-12-28T09:33:00.001-05:00

Mixing. I mixed up some colors we had here. Didn’t want to spend any money.

Tested it on the walls, the dark grey got rejected (by the Hubbs) and the sage got rejected by me.

I ended up buying a gallon of white paint to tone done the grey, I really liked it, but it was just so dark. More mixing.

I gathered up all the paint around the house to do this.

The final result is a gray (grey) blue, almost slate but lighter. Definitely not a normal shade for me, I’m all about lights and neutrals. But I woke up today so HAPPY with it! My favorite part is how it pops against all the other neutralness ‘round here.

Today my boys are painting to help me out and to give the ol’ Wii a break. I get to keep Kya entertained, wish me luck!

P.S. Last nite was the first time I EVER saw It’s a Wonderful Life, do I live under a rock? Tell me there is someone else out there who’s never seen it, it’s dated 1946, sheesh!

Best 10 days ever

2011-12-27T07:54:00.001-05:00

This is the desk where I work. My name is on the invisible door, ha!

I left here on December 23rd @ 4p and I don’t have to go back until January 3rd. 10 days off!!! I can’t remember ever having 10 consecutive days off without a baby as the excuse for it!!

I spent the first two days relaxing but effective yesterday I’m in full on Getting-Something-Accomplished-Mode, then I plan to spend the last two days relaxing.

So far, I painted the master bedroom. It pretty much took all day and being the (cheapo) risk taker I am, I mixed 3 different paints and came out with a color pretty close to the bedroom, I was going for lighter but beggars can’t be choosers. I’m happys.

Today, the dining room. It’s my messy place.

Tomorrow I’m taking a break to return library books and hit up the after Christmas Sale at Target (good stuff, go today if you can).

I’ll be back soon, hopefully with more pictures! Hope you are all having a wonderfully, merry and bright, holiday season.

This week on Pinterest:

2011-12-22T08:41:00.001-05:00

My favs:

How's that for mind candy?

Thanks for dropping in.

Thoughts

2011-12-19T22:25:00.001-05:00

I was wondering today, how many times a day do I use google.com. I’m gonna record it one day, I’m sure it’s a lot. I google EVERYTHING. I’m probably their Biggest (and most loyal) customer, do you google? or bing?

I have an iphone4 and an ipad2 – both since the Summer, but today is the first day I got to use facetime. We really are in the future!! I can’t stop thinking about that.

Do you send ‘thank yous’? I really think they add a personal touch. My own ill-mannered children don’t always give this gesture and it bugs me, but we’re working on it. Tonight I had Kya write her thank yous from her bday, she was happy to do it and sealed them before I got to take a look. You realize she is 5 and can’t spell much besides Kya, I wonder what they say.

Tonight was my office holiday party, I may or may not have ate my weight in shrimp and spiked the punch.

I finally got to wrap something in kraft paper. I stole the rest of the wrapping décor from Susie and Martha, don’t you love blogs, full of inspiration.

I read someone else’s mail at work. Calm it down, I just peeked in it, it was a magazine, Real Simple. It has a good article about social networking, facebook, twitter, etc and how differently everyone uses it. There is a blurb about it here, are you Team Can’t Be Bothered or Team Can’t Live Without It? Personally, I’m over social networking except for pinterest.com loving that right now.

We don’t exchange gifts here but I always enjoy the season, I usually bake something for my neighbors, last year it cinnamon rolls, this year I’m thinking these. Cause these apple dumplings from Thanksgiving did NOT go over well.

I’ve been hard at work here, all week painting over thrifted frames to get something on the walls in here. I wanted to do one bubble painting to add some color and whimsy.

But the big one for the wall came out in a puddle. Not cute, glad we had everything on hand so no money was lost in the making of this craft.

I’d have to add that during this craft Kya found a frozen ice in the freezer and ditched me.

Ok wrapping up, online tonight, I was visiting freshhomeideas.com, they linked to this website, and I had to go look, it is one of my goals, getting organized. While visiting I noticed their TV center and liked it. But knew I couldn’t afford it to purchase built-ins.

Lightbulb moment: Ikea bookcases. Then I thought, they would be too plain. Boo.

But wait - we could add moulding? Lightbulb moment, google: Ikea hacker and sure enough, there were details and images of someone that had already successfully tried it. Booyah!

Did I mention how much I love google :) So Inspired ….hope you are too.

Enjoy the Season!